Android 2.4 Gingerbread (yes, Gingerbread) coming April

Android users are currently scattered across several different versions, from 1.5 to 2.3. As if the situation wasn’t already messy enough, Android 2.4 is seemingly on the horizon, and it’ll be called – no, not Ice Cream – Gingerbread.

But waitaminute, hasn’t Android traditionally been working its way through the alphabet? Well, yes. We’ve already had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo and the original Gingerbread (1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 respectively).

Android complicated matters a little by dubbing its tablet-only OS Honeycomb, and starting the numbering over again at 3.0. Fair enough. The next smartphone iteration, Android 2.4, was expected to be Ice Cream.

However, Viewsonic has had an exclusive blether with Pocket-lint, revealing that its ViewPad 4 smartphone (due for release in April) will run Android 2.4, and that the OS will still be called Gingerbread. What the heck happened to 2.3?

Well, seemingly there is logic in Android’s madness. This new smartphone version is specifically designed to allow dual-core apps developed for Honeycomb to run on single-core phones. According to the Pocket Lint source, it’s not possible with Gingerbread, so 2.4 has been brought forward.

This ties up with a recent article on Phandroid, which revealed: “We’ve just gotten word from a trusted source that Google has begun building a new branch of code - being called GRI17 (Gingerbread post-Honeycomb, aka “Ice Cream”) - that aims to bring some of the new elements found in Honeycomb over to phones.”

Of course, according to Viewsonic, Android 2.4 will seemingly keep the Gingerbread moniker.

Confused enough yet? In an effort to further explode your brain, Android is now expected to use Ice Cream for 3.1.